Australian Leader Seeks Deal to Sell Uranium to India

By Nida Najar and Michelle Innis

Sept. 3, 2014

NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia announced in Parliament on Wednesday that he hoped to sign a deal this week to export uranium to India, even though India has not ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Australia, which has about one-third of the world’s known uranium reserves, does not allow the mineral to be exported to any other nonsignatory country. The government voted to drop a ban on exports to India in 2011, but the step has been widely criticized because of India’s rejection of the treaty.

Mr. Abbott is scheduled to visit India on Thursday and meet with the country’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi. Speaking to lawmakers, Mr. Abbott referred to India as “the world’s emerging democratic superpower.”

India, which now gets more than half its electricity from coal-fired plants, suffers crippling power shortages, and has been trying to develop civilian nuclear energy as an alternative. It has 20 reactors with a capacity of 4,780 megawatts, but just nine are operating at capacity. India hopes to be producing 63,000 megawatts of nuclear energy by 2032.

Securing enough fuel has been a sticking point because of the treaty, which allows signatory countries to possess nuclear weapons only if they tested such weapons before 1967. India, which first tested an atomic weapon in 1974, says the treaty is discriminatory. Pakistan and Israel have not signed the treaty either; both are believed to possess nuclear weapons.

The United States and India, which were long at odds over India’s weapons program, signed a landmark agreement in 2008 giving India access to American fuel and technology for civilian nuclear energy. That deal was seen as part of a strategy to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Critics of the agreement said that it did not include enough safeguards against diversion of nuclear fuel for military purposes.

Mr. Abbott said in a broadcast interview on Tuesday that he was not worried about that issue. “We ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “India is a fully functioning democracy with the rule of law, and I think we should be prepared to support India, and that’s what my upcoming visit will be all about.”

His announcement on uranium sales comes at a time when Mr. Modi has been trying to improve relations with several other Asian nations. Mr. Modi concluded a five-day visit to Japan on Wednesday, where he appeared to have good personal chemistry with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but did not manage to conclude a civilian nuclear deal. In a joint news statement on Monday, Mr. Modi said that he and Mr. Abe had “reached a better understanding of each other’s positions” and directed their negotiators to “work expeditiously” to conclude agreements.

In contrast with the opening to India, Mr. Abbott announced on Wednesday that Australia would ban exports of uranium to Russia until further notice.

Alluding to Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, he said, “Australia has no intention of selling uranium to a country which is so obviously in breach of international law, as Russia currently is.”

Nida Najar reported from New Delhi, and Michelle Innis from Sydney, Australia.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Australian Leader Seeks Deal to Sell Uranium to India. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe